Sat, Apr 05, 2003

It's rare when you get to brag about the fulfillment of a long-term prediction, especially when you don't make many predictions. But this one was fulfilled so early that I want to call your attention to it – especially those who doubted.

The thrilling liberation by U.S. Special Forces of prisoner of war Jessica Lynch gave President Bush a boost in passing the supplemental appropriations bill to finance the war by pacifying a leading Democratic critic.

When Americans are at war, fighting and dying halfway around the world for an idealistic end to a vicious and dangerous regime, the last thing we need is a silly pop-music star exploiting the drama for commercial gain.

As Arnett should know, it’s not the job of a journalist to “help those who oppose the war develop their arguments.” It’s the job of a journalist to provide accurate information, and allow his audience to make of it what they will.

The war to liberate Iraq is entering its third week. President Bush said last week, regarding the Iraqi regime's tenacious hold on power, "This man Saddam Hussein has tortured and brutalized his people for a long, long time..."

An outraged member of the Senate Armed Services Committee said, "I hesitate to even use the term journalist" when referring to Peter Arnett, the veteran war correspondent fired by NBC and National Geographic after he was interviewed on state-run Iraqi television.

Reasonable people can disagree about whether the war in Iraq will reduce or increase terrorism, whether building a democracy there is practical or not, whether Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld forged a brilliant military plan or skimped on ground troops.

Thu, Apr 03, 2003

Historian Paul Johnson refers to the American left's behavior during the Vietnam War as "America's suicide attempt." The firing of NBC reporter Peter Arnett this week proves the nation has fully recovered.

In 1995, then-CNN star Peter Arnett told The American Spectator's John Corry that "Rush Limbaugh is the king. He is also a cretinous liar, with off-the-wall opinions. And he has the audacity to call himself a journalist."

Ryan Clancy, a Milwaukee resident, substitute teacher and business owner, traveled to Iraq to serve as a human shield. So did antiwar activist Ken Joseph Jr., an Assyrian Christian who, too, traveled to Iraq to protect the Iraqis against the allegedly unwarranted American aggression.

At the dawn of the 21st century, I would propose the Blankley macroscopic corollary to the Heisenberg microscopic principle: The more precisely the media measures individual events in a war, the more blurry the warfare appears to the observer.

The U.S. Senate last week behaved like a drunk who testifies at a temperance meeting that he has seen the evil of his ways and vows to become sober but then, on his way home, yields to temptation while passing a saloon, goes in and gets plastered.

Militarily, this war on Iraq continues to go as well as any war in American history. Within the first three days, U.S. Marines and the 3rd Infantry had raced across the Iraqi desert to within 50 miles of Baghdad.

We're focused on war, as we have to be, worried about our casualties and prisoners of war, sympathizing with the millions of innocent Iraqis who have felt the heel of Saddam Hussein on their necks for decades.

When mainstream journalists report both sides of racism -- pro and con, with equal weight -- or both sides of having a free press in America, then I'll believe that American media don't take sides on issues, and that there is at least a rationale for American media not rooting for U.S. troops to win in Iraq. But that day will never come.

Having now witnessed the sympathetic treatment that so many world leaders accorded Saddam Hussein, especially at the United Nations, an unexpected thought occurs: Can Adolf Hitler's reputation, too, be rescued?

In an age of microwave ovens, wireless phones and multiple-angle instant replay, do we really expect to win our wars instantly too? Yes, if you listen to analysts who are upset that we haven't beaten Saddam after only a few days.

In the future, I hope that the CBO will do more to break out
specific provisions of tax and spending proposals, and look at them
individually. This will show that some tax cuts significantly raise growth,
while others have no impact whatsoever.

Patrick Kavanaugh wonders "why so many brilliant classical musicians have stooped to disrobing in order to sell Bach partitas." Plunging necklines and even partial nudity have become common on classical CD covers.

Presently, the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing a challenge to the racist admissions policy at the University of Michigan. The university ranks applicants on a scale that awards points for SAT scores, high school grades and the color of one's skin.

Taking a break from hounding Augusta National Country Club for not admitting female members, infamous feminist Martha Burk heeded the call of the State Department last month to represent the United States as part of a delegation to a conference on women’s issues in Tallin, Estonia.

Wed, Apr 02, 2003

Fraud is as pervasive in arguments for affirmative action for women as in arguments for affirmative action for blacks. In fact, a whole fraudulent history has been concocted to explain the changing economic position of women over the years.

The March 10 issue of Human Events carried a special report on the 10 most outrageous government programs. Their 18 judges included conservative/libertarians such as former Rep. Dick Armey, R-Texas, former Delaware Gov. Pete Dupont, Mark Levin, president of the Landmark Legal Foundation, and David Boaz, Cato Institute's vice president.

By now you've probably heard about Nicholas De Genova, the obnoxious professor of anthropology and "Latino/a studies" at Columbia University, who reportedly told students at an anti-war "teach-in" that he wishes America would suffer "a million Mogadishus."

Shelves of local hardware stores, rapidly depleted of duct tape during a recent shopping spree by terrified soccer moms who tried to tape would-be terrorists out of their McMansions, are once again brimming with rolls of the sticky stuff.

In keeping with his reportorial record, even Peter Arnett's apology lacked credibility. While he apologized to the American people for making a "misjudgment," he vitiated the request for forgiveness by adding, "I said over the weekend what we all know about the war."

A new land-speed record has been established for calling an American military conflict "another Vietnam." New York Times writer R.W. Apple seemed to establish an unbeatable mark during the war in Afghanistan, by warning of a quagmire after three weeks of fighting against the miserable Taliban.

Mon, Mar 31, 2003

This year's Oscars telecast was the lowest-rated ever. Coming in the midst of our troops fighting valiantly abroad, that's understandable. It's a good thing for Hollywood, too, because it's beginning to look like the voters of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are slowly losing their minds.

Eight days into the war, 27 Americans had died in combat, some from friendly fire. Yet, already, journalists were talking about America being caught in a quagmire like Vietnam. We pay a price for not teaching history to our children.

In 1998, leftist activists ganged up on Proposition 227, which mandated English immersion classes for most limited-English students. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and California Teachers Association opposed the measure.

Continuing the State Department’s efforts to undermine President Bush in Iraq, Consular chief Maura Harty recently filled two key Iraq-related positions with people whose track records suggest nothing but incompetence—or worse—coziness with the House of Saud.

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